Tale of the Shining Stars
by Requiem Wings
Summary: The Star Festival has been ruined again, and Bowser has taken not only Peach, but also the Guest of Honor! This time, however, Mario and Luigi are launched into space with some of the Festival's guests whom they haven't met until that very night. It's a rather bizarre team, but they'll all need to do their best to win against Bowser...
1. A Festival of Chaos

_Now, let me tell you another story that begins with stardust…_

_Every one hundred years, a comet streaks across the sky of the Mushroom Kingdom, showering the land with beautiful, shining stardust._

_Many centuries ago, the Mushroom Kingdom was experiencing horrible times. Their warriors were defeated many times in battle; they had a bad crop that year; what food they did have was pillaged, and it was all hardships and chaos. Then the comet came, showering the land with vast amounts of shards packed with compressed stardust._

_The Toads collected these shards, and combined them to form a great Power Star. After that, their crops grew much better, diseases stopped spreading in the land, their warriors became infallible, and their trees bore plentiful fruit._

_It was a very happy time in the Mushroom Kingdom. Since then, they have held a five-day festival honoring the comet as it passes over the sky on that curious sight which can only be seen once every one hundred years._

_Our story begins at one of those festivals…_

* * *

**Dear Mario and Luigi,**

**You two are invited to the Star Festival, which begins April 22 at twilight. I'll be waiting for you in front of the castle. I'd like to share some cake with you two while we watch the shooting stars. Also, there's a friend of mine I'd like you to meet. Don't be late!**

**Sincerely,  
Princess Peach**

* * *

As soon as he read that letter, Mario broke into a wide grin. The Star Festival. Yes, it was the five-day festival celebrating the legendary comet which scattered beautiful shards of stardust across the land once each century. And he was given a special invitation directly from the Princess.

Granted, it wasn't surprising. Princess Peach always was the target of his archnemesis' attacks. Said archnemesis always wanted to kidnap her for power, but Peach never yielded to him even when captured. Mario came to her rescue each time, and freed her from the clutches of that evil beast. "I guess inviting me was the least she could do," he grinned, pocketing the letter and taking out an identical one from the blue mailbox. "Well…Daisy won't be at the party, but I suppose I'd better tell Luigi anyway, for courtesy's sake."

Opening the small green door, Mario walked through a room with a furnace, several cabinets decorated with red and green triangles and numerous red and green cups neatly stacked inside. Ignoring those for the moment, Mario continued on into the bedroom, which had two beds- red and green, of course, stacked upon each other, a desk, and a cabinet with two drawers. Colors need not be said at this point. Looking around the room for a thin line cutting through the diagonal floorboards, Mario jumped into the air, flipped over, and slammed upon the cut-out section, causing it to fall away.

The area beneath the house was a room completely of simple stone, but it was much less organized than the room above. Data chips and other computer parts were scattered chaotically upon the floor or stacked haphazardly upon each other. In the midst of it all was Luigi, standing in front of a three-screen computer. He was putting in a new piece, it seemed. Why he suddenly took such an interest to making a supercomputer Mario could not understand, but that wasn't the point. "Hey, Luigi! You need to see this!" he shouted over the beeping sounds the computers made.

"I'm a bit busy right now, could you hold on?" Luigi shouted back without turning once.

"No, seriously! This is important! You'll definitely be glad I told you!"

"Sigh…okay fine, what do you want?" Luigi turned around as Mario showed him the green brother's invitation. "Wow! A VIP invitation to the Star Festival? That's gr-" Then he looked back at the computer and got a horrified look. His brother followed his gaze and immediately received an equally terrified expression.

Today was April 22nd. The first day had arrived already. "WE GOTTA GET GOING! PRONTO!" Mario shouted, turning on his heel. "Wait, you don't have anything else to do, right?"

"The activities only take place at night-I can work during the day," Luigi replied, standing up and running to a spring which would shoot them out of the secret room, without even bothering to cover up his computer at all. "Now come on!"

* * *

A pipe popped out of the ground in front of the gates to Toad Town, and the castle beyond. Mario and Luigi jumped out, landing on the soft grass as beautiful streaks of color rained from the giant bright blue shooting star in the darkened sky, scattering stardust across the town. "The Star Festival is always awesome, isn't it?" Mario asked, marveling at the sky filled with lights.

"Yeah," Luigi agreed as they went up to the gates. The guards moved to stop them to see if they were allowed in on their list, but all it took was holding up their VIP invitations so the Mario Bros. could come in. "Great! We're in! Now what?" Luigi asked as they neared the brightly decorated Toad Town, with its star-shaped lamps and multicolored strings of flags hanging from each red-tiled roof in the whole town.

"We enjoy ourselves, duh!" Mario replied, before spotting some friends and going off to hang out with them. And so they went, collecting the chunks of stardust falling from the sky-called "Star Bits" by the Mario Bros-on the way to the town and chatting with Toads. The citizens of the village greeted them warmly while watching the stars fall, and giving out cake and other desserts.

"Come on, Luigi! Let's hurry to the castle!" Getting somewhat impatient, Mario ran through the town without waiting for Luigi. "Peach, here we co-" He rounded a corner to arrive at the castle gates…unfortunately, there was a tall boy already entering the gates at that exact moment. Mario tried to stop, but he couldn't do so in time to prevent a crash. "OW!" he shouted, falling to the ground. "Hey! Watch it!" he growled, standing up.

The boy brushed off his extremely fancy coat, which was a very dark shade of blue and lined with silver fabric. The coat curved around his back, down to his ankles, and was left unzipped…if it had a zipper, anyway. Further up, another section curved in front of him, ending at his chest. He had a somewhat tall collar which curved around the back of his neck.

He also had black boots worn over black pants made of cloth that looked way too expensive for even the Princess to afford, although surprisingly, the same could not be said about his black shirt. Resting on his sapphire blue hair was a pair of dark blue and silver headphones. "You should watch where _you're_ going. You're the one who ran into me anyway," he replied casually, although he seemed genuinely annoyed.

"As far as I saw, that's right," Luigi replied, before Mario could make a response. His brother stared at him with an open mouth before recovering and demanding which side he was on, causing a rather big ruckus.

"Why the big rush, anyway? It's not a bad thing to enjoy the festival," the boy interrupted. He seemed to be in his late teens, but something about him seemed somewhat more mature than that.

"We're off to see the Princess!" Mario replied, puffing up his chest proudly. "Only special guests can go into the castle, and-"

"Ah, so we're going to the same place, are we?" The boy interrupted, holding a VIP invitation, with a rather smug look on his face.

Luigi and Mario stared with surprise. "Wait. Who are you?" Luigi squinted at his face. "I don't remember seeing you before…"

"This is my first night in the Mushroom Kingdom. One of my friends…or soon-to-be-sister-in-law…" They boy's mouth twitched up slightly in amusement at saying that. "…is the Guest of Honor in this festival. Peach allowed her to send some VIP invitations out. Therefore…" He gestured to the castle. "It's been fun here, but I'm going off to the main event now."

"Eh? A-ah, good evening, Mario…a-and Luigi, too. W-what are you doing right here?" Before Mario could shoot a reply, a young girl wearing a green T-shirt and a miniskirt of matching color walked up to them, having noticed the Mario Bros. while rounding a corner. She was wearing brown sandals, and had emerald-colored eyes and short, messy brown hair. When she saw the boy, however, her eyes went wide, and she began to stammer, shuffling uncomfortably. "U-um...h-hello..."

"Good evening," the boy replied with a gentle smile. "Enjoying your night?" The girl tried to respond, but her voice was rather quiet and numerous times came out as a mess of incomprehensible words. Yet the boy didn't seem to be losing any patience.

Luigi stepped between them. "I think we'd best get to introductions first, then." He gestured to the girl. "This is Terra Himene. She's one of the human residents of Toad Town. And you are…"

"Axel Nightblazer. You two, if I'm correct, are the Mario Bros., right? A pleasure to meet you," the boy replied, bowing. He seemed to have rather polite manners, at least after he had gotten over Mario ramming into him.

"Wait, how do you know who we are if you just arrived?" Mario asked.

"The other residents talked about you guys quite a bit," Axel replied, straightening. "Anyway, I'd love to stay here and keep talking, but shouldn't we be going to the Castle right now?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! We need to hurry!" Mario shouted, and he started running again.

"Hey, I told you to take it eas-argh, he's too far away to hear us now," Axel sighed, facepalming. "Let's hope he doesn't crash into something again…"

"Knowing him, he will," Luigi groaned, also facepalming. "Oh well, we're going to the castle now. Terra, are you coming?"

"Eh? W-well…I-I'd like to g-go…but…you need, um…y-you know…t-the VIP invitation…" Terra's eyes went downcast, hinting that she wanted to go even more than she was saying she did.

Axel took notice of this and took her by the hand, prompting her to instinctively recoil at first, but then look up at his kind expression. "We'll see if you can be admitted if you're entering with someone who does have a VIP invitation," he promised. "Come with us, okay?"

"A-ah…" Terra, seeming rather touched by his kindness, began walking after them. Luigi watched, unable to deny that Axel Nightblazer had rather impressed him.

As Mario hurried to the castle, the details got more distinct and vivid. Red tiles covered the castle's oddly flat roof and the four towers, and the spire on the castle extended high into the air, almost as if it was going to reach the stars. A balcony stood above the door under a stained glass window of Peach.

But then something went flying off the balcony to land right in front of him, causing Mario to have to stop on a whim. It was a black-haired boy in a green coat that went down to his ankles, gold patterns curling around it in ways reminiscent of fire or wings. Black boots were slightly covered by green cargo pants that were unusually smoothened out like dress pants would be. As he stood up, it turned out he was much taller than Mario. "HEY! Who do you think you are, flipping off balconies in peoples' path?!" Mario demanded angrily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were there," the boy replied with a smirk. Then he looked beyond Mario and his expression changed. "Oh, look who's here."

At this point, Axel, Luigi and Terra came striding up to the gate. "No need to prove your acrobatics, Aeron," Axel called out, one hand on his hip in annoyance.

"It was totally necessary. How else am I supposed to greet you?" the boy called Aeron retorted, walking past Mario to Axel. "But on a lighter note…welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom, Axel."

"Oh, look! He's here!" At these words Mario looked up to the balcony. Standing there, accompanied by a girl with red hair in a blue stood Princess Peach herself! "Mario! Luigi! You finally came!" she cried happily, waving.

"Hey, Peach!" Mario shouted, waving back. "Now this party can _really_ begin!"

The guards stood in their path as they approached the castle doors, gesturing for all of them except Aeron to show their invitations. After displaying his, Axel gestured to Terra. "Um, do you mind letting her in? We're with her, and we've got VIP invitations after all…" Terra didn't seem to be paying attention, and seemed to have her gaze focused towards the balcony.

The guards looked at Terra, then they looked at each other. "Um, well…we'd need someone with authority to give us the ability to do that," one of them finally managed, looking somewhat apologetic.

"It's fine, you can let that girl in," the girl in the blue dress called. Peach gave her a questioning look, to which she replied, "That girl seems somewhat interested in me…I'd like to talk to her for a bit."

"Well, that's your decision," Peach replied, shrugging resignedly and moving away from the balcony, back into the ball.

"Sweet! We can go in!" Mario cheered, heading past the guards. Terra walked after him, looking rather speechless and awed. "Um…Terra? Is something wrong?"

"T-that was Hanna B-Bladesinger...h-her s-singing is f-famous," Terra stammered out in a voice that made it clear she idolized that Hanna person. "I've l-looked up to her…s-she's really a-amazing…um…" Not sure how to end it, she just closed her mouth.

"She must be the reason why you came here then, right?" Axel asked, to which Terra weakly nodded. "And to think Hanna would let you in just like that…she must have a pretty great feeling about you if you've never met her before!"

"Y-you think so?" Terra lowered her head, blushing, and said no more.

* * *

Inside the castle, the decorations had been changed significantly. Instead of the usual sky blue with white clouds and green hills, the ceiling and walls were now painted as a dark blue sky, with spiraling galaxies, shining stars, and streaking comets everywhere. The center of the ceiling, instead of having a sun painted upon it, was now decorated with an eight-pointed star from which an eight-armed chandelier hung, decorated with Star Bits in place of the candles that usually were there. The mat on the floor, in reflection of the ceiling, was also changed to a eight-point star pattern. Wispy blue-gray carpets had been laid out in lieu of the original red fabrics, and the white and black-tiled floor had been repainted to also show galaxies and stars.

As the ball went on, people danced, ate, and talked, as soft music played just underneath these sounds, giving everything a gentler feel. "Wow, there are lots of people here!" Mario commented. Of course, he seemed more eager to gain fame than anything else.

Terra, on the other hand, shrank back a little. It was like she was facing a lynch mob rather than the guests. Ignoring her, Mario walked straight up to Peach and the Guest of Honor, with Axel, Aeron and Luigi by his side. Peach was descending the stairs at the same time, followed by the girl in the blue dress. "Welcome, Mario!" she said cheerfully. "Have you been enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mario replied, before seeming to notice the girl in the blue dress for the first time. "Hey, who's that?"

The girl walked straight up to him and introduced herself. "Hanna Bladesinger. A pleasure to meet you." She curtsied as she spoke.

"Um, hi! I'm Mario, and this is my brother Luigi!" Mario replied, somewhat awkwardly, while Luigi raised his hand in greeting. This was probably Aeron's girlfriend…not that it mattered to him. "And, Peach, this is…"

"Axel Nightblazer. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Axel finished, bowing deeply.

Peach curtsied in response. "You must be the one Hanna and Aeron were waiting for," she noted. "Pleased to finally meet you. You've got very good manners."

"He was raised as a noble, so no big surprise there," Aeron muttered.

Peach gave him a surprised look, then her eyes went back to Axel, but the boy in blue raised his hands in a "no way" gesture. "I think now's not the time for that story," he gently yet firmly told her.

Then Hanna's eyes focused upon Terra, who was standing several stairs down. "And you…" She strode straight to Terra, the look in her eyes as unthreatening as one can get. "Now I can ask, who are you and why did you seem that interested in me?"

"Um…I…ah…" In front of an idol, Terra seemed utterly powerless to even speak.

Axel stepped in between the two. "This is Terra Himene. She's a denizen of Toad Town," he explained. "She admires you because of your singing, Hanna."

"Oh, so that's it," Hanna said. "Say, Terra, do you sing yourself?" After several moments of stammering, Terra finally gave up and nodded. "Interesting...I don't suppose you could show me how well you sing?" Hanna asked, seeming interested.

Terra immediately looked around the room frantically. The room was full of people, and a few were looking in her direction. "Um…well…I-I can't sing v-v-very well..."

Hanna nodded in understanding, then turned to Aeron. In turn, Aeron nodded and raised his hand, and suddenly no one could hear Terra and Hanna speaking. Mario tried to listen in, but he could hear nothing. Aeron shook his head, noting what Mario was doing. "I prevented sound from passing from them to us," he explained. "Terra wants to sing in private, so please respect that."

Hanna, meanwhile, explained the same thing to Terra. "So do you think you'll be able to sing now?" Completely unable to speak, Terra nodded with the look of a helpless victim of torment. "Good…you may start when you're ready."

Terra cleared her throat multiple times, fidgeted quite a bit, and then finally tried to sing. But her vocal chords were tense, and the notes seemed off key, the lyrics tumbling upon each other incomprehensibly. Eventually, she gulped and sighed, seeming to give up. "I can't do it…I'm sorry for wasting your time…" Slowly, she stumbled towards the doors, lamely muttering she needed to go out for a bit.

"Terra, wait…" Hanna took a green flower-shaped hairclip out of her hair and tied it to Terra's relatively short hair, prompting a look of surprise from the girl who idolized her. "You only need to show that to get back in, alright?" Hanna gave a warm smile, but Terra couldn't return it entirely and only showed a weak one, before walking out of the doors. Then Hanna turned to Aeron, still wearing that bright smile. "So, Aeron, do you think we could afford to go out for a bit as well?"

"Huh? I don't mind, but…" Before Aeron could finish his complaint, Hanna took his arm, hooking hers around it, and then walked out the door with him.

Axel couldn't help but grin as he watched them. "There they go, the lovebirds who tragically realized their feelings were mutual recently despite knowing each other for their entire lives," he muttered with an amused smirk. "Call it the perfect love story if you want, but I think it's pretty hilarious."

"Wait, seriously?" Luigi couldn't help laughing, and neither could Mario or Peach. Axel also laughed, but he looked out the window as well, paying attention to Hanna and Aeron as they sat down on a bench near a large rock on the lakeshore…

* * *

Terra looked around once and saw nobody around her, letting out a sigh of relief. She had no idea why it was so hard to be around people like that, but she just couldn't think clearly in there. She sat down upon a rock on the edge of the crystal-clear water of the lake.

Several tears dropped from her eyes, having finally met her idol but then humiliating herself badly in the process. Finally, she wiped them away and took in multiple deep breaths of the wonderful air that hung over the lake. Slowly, the lump in her throat disappeared. And then she began to sing her favorite song, just to cheer herself up. The notes came out as clear as the water, which reflected the light of a thousand stars back into the air.

"_Even if there are days when the tears roll down my cheeks,  
I want to have your back all for myself, but...__  
__Because kindness is also cruel sometimes,__  
__I lose sight of the answer the more I search for it._

_If you can see the rainbow in the town after the rain,  
Let's start walking now, something is about to begin..._

_Because I have you, because I have tomorrow,  
Because I can't live on all alone...  
I feel you so close by me, I guess that's love.  
Because you know how much pain tears can bring,  
As I search your transparent eyes for a definite meaning,  
I hope that I find a smile."_

"Well, well, well! What happened to 'I can't sing well'?" Hanna's voice came ringing out at this moment. Terra, startled, turned around to see Aeron and the Guest of Honor sitting on a bench behind her. She began to stammer once again, but then she found she had lost her balance, and plunged into the lake with arms flailing wildly and comically.

"That may have not been the best idea," Aeron commented, standing up to get Terra out of the water.

* * *

Hanna and Aeron took Terra to a separate room to dry off (somehow without being noticed). "Sorry for scaring you," Hanna apologized. "I wanted to stick around for your...uh...practice. It sounded great."

"H-h-h-how much d-did you hear?" Terra asked through chattering teeth. "Y-y-y-y-you d-didn't hear a-a-all of it, d-did you?"

"Well, we heard all of it," Aeron replied, scratching the back of his head. "I must say, for someone of your age-I'd guess around 10 to 12-you've got one of the best singing voices I've heard. I'm not joking," he added when Terra gave him a disbelieving stare.

"I-I only s-s-s-sing well when I-I'm alone," Terra sighed, huddling in the blanket wrapped around herself. "B-b-but..._p-_please...B-Bladesinger-san...d-don't t-tell p-people about m-my singing. Th-Then they'd want me t-to sing f-for them, a-and then...and th...a-and..." She couldn't even finish it because of her fear about what she was about to say.

"I understand. We'll keep quiet," Hanna promised.

And that's about the time when things went wrong.

* * *

Suddenly, there were loud explosions and screams outside. Above, the incessant pounding of a rainstorm was heard, but then several hard _clunks_ akin to the sound of hail followed. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the ground trembled underneath the guests' feet. "What's going on right now?" Peach went up to the balcony, looked out the window, and jumped back with a scream. "Mario, come here! Quickly!" she called. The look on her face made it clear it was urgent.

Mario ran up next to where she stood and gasped. Outside, flaming meteors dropped from the sky, smashing Toad Town to pieces. An earthquake erupted, creating giant fissures in the ground and shaking the houses to pieces. At the same time, a storm began, unleashing howling gales, freezing hail, and heavy rains across the town. Lightning followed, slashing about like giant blades. Giant plants erupted from the ground, and Giant spears of metal fell from the sky, continuing the destruction. And bolts of light and shadow whirled all around. "Mama…Mia…" Mario could only breathe weakly at this sight.

"What could be doing this?" Peach wondered as Hanna and Aeron staggered back in, confused by the earthquakes and screaming guests. "Hanna, do you have an idea?"

"I don't," Hanna replied, scratching her head. "But we have to make sure no one's been hurt. Also, maybe we should evacuate everyone from the castle; if it's destroyed, it'll collapse on their heads." She turned to Axel and Aeron. "Guys, can you go to Toad Town and see if no one's hurt? Peach and I will stay and safely get everyone out of the castle."

"Okay! You can count on us!" Axel replied, running out the door. Meanwhile, the guests, panicking and trying to remain standing, were running around in confusion.

"I don't think we can use the door at this point," Luigi muttered, eying the door. "Peach, we'll go to Toad Town too! Can you handle things here?"

"I'll be fine," Peach replied reassuringly. "Now go! Help Toad Town!"

Luigi and Mario jumped off the balcony and hit the ground running towards Toad Town. The shaking ground was almost too much for them as they struggled to stay on their feet, and in moments they were soaked from the rain. "What the hell is this?" Luigi wondered as hailstones dropped upon them. "It definitely can't be natural!"

By now, with the endless hammering of the elements, Toad Town was in ruins. Axel and Aeron were trying to get Toads out of a house before it collapsed, Axel carrying a younger toad in his hands. "What the heck is this? I don't even..." Axel muttered.

"Someone's messing around with the weather," Aeron replied. He raised a hand...and the wind began to die down. "Whoever did it, let's hope he doesn't do it again for the next few minutes."

Suddenly, the house began to collapse upon them! "LOOK OUT!" Luigi shouted. Holding up a flower with circular-patterned petals which formed two rings-the outside one sky blue, and the inside one very light blue around a white core. The Ice Flower turned upwards, and light blue pollen drifted out. As the pollen landed on him, Luigi turned transparent, and balls of light blue energy appeared in his hands. He hurled them at the collapsing house, freezing it long enough for Aeron to get the people out before it crumbled to pieces from the earthquakes. "That was a close one..." he commented.

"Thanks for that, Luigi," Aeron said with a small hint of gratitude that disappeared in a moment, replaced by one of urgency. "Now let's keep moving!"

The next few minutes were spent by the four of them escorting the Toads out of their homes and to safe areas outside the town while the storm continued. They had just finished getting the last few out when the sound of rotors could be heard. Above their heads passed multiple ships with propellers on their masts instead of sails soaring through the air. They almost seemed to be unaffected by the insane weather! But then Luigi noticed the flag flying at the back of each ship... "Oh my god, Mario, that's BOWSER'S flag!" he shouted, pointing.

Sure enough, a black flag with the face of the Mario Bros. very own archnemesis printed in white soared from all the airships. "Crap! Does that mean _Bowser_ was responsible for all this?" Mario worried. "Although…I've never known him to be able to control weather, make plants spring up, cause earthquakes…sheesh, nearly everything he's done tonight. Maybe Kamek's helping him?"

"Mario, you know that Kamek's normal magic wouldn't be able to do all this," Luigi reasoned. "Which means Bowser has access to a new power we've never seen before...but how did he get it? And what will he do this time?"

"The answers to those questions we can't exactly look for at this moment," Aeron reminded. "Because it looks like those airships are taking an awful lot of interest in us..." The airships had turned their sides to them...cannon barrels aimed at the four. "Look out!" Aeron shouted, just as one cannonball arced forward. It struck a large crater in the ground and sent concrete and metal flying everywhere.

"We can't battle them here!" Luigi shouted, shielding himself from the rubble with one arm. "Let's get to Amity Square-we'll have more room to dodge them!" Sticking with Luigi's idea, he, Mario and Axel ran down a street, the cannonballs following. They continued through the streets, jumping over the rubble and avoiding the cannonballs until they entered a wide, sprawling plaza. There were a few trees and benches, and a fountain was in the middle. Large buildings seemed to cage us in, but they also seemed rather far away. This was Amity Square, the largest plaza in Toad Town.

"Plenty of area. That's nice," Axel commented, seeming as though this place was the kind of battlefield he wanted.

It was then they realized a certain boy in green was missing. "Hey, wait, where's Aeron?!" Mario asked, peering hard down the street they had came from.

A streak of golden lightning rocketed between the airships, destroying their masts and rendering the propellers on said masts useless, sending them plummeting to the ground to shatter. "Needless to say, he didn't _need_ more area as long as he's got access to the sky," Axel explained, but then his expression tensed when he noticed airships surrounding them. "Prepare yourselves, you two. It's Showtime."

"Well, that just sucks," Luigi muttered. "But we'll have to roll with it and take these guys on!" He looked into his pocket, and pulled out a red mushroom with white spots. "I'll use the Super Mushroom to battle them!" Biting the Mushroom, Luigi suddenly doubled in size. He ran towards one airship, dodging each attack, and jumped, punching the ship with his enlarged fist and knocking it back, as well as putting a noticeable dent in it. More punches followed, with Luigi's enhanced strength cracking the ship's hull open. "Now, Mario!" Luigi shouted.

"Yeah!" the red Mario Bros. replied, holding up a new flower. It was similar to the Ice Flower, except the rings were red and yellow. It released white pollen, which changed Mario's hat and shirt to white, and his overalls red. "Now we'll show them something!" he declared, throwing several red fireballs. They bounced off the ground, and Luigi jumped away as they crashed into the hole he made. The ship began to burn, and the crew was unable to put the fire out in time before it was engulfed in flames.

"Messing around with the forces of nature...this Bowser has lots of nerve," Axel murmured to himself, eyes closed. Suddenly, the crescent moon in the sky flashed, and a beam of moonlight crashed down in front of Axel. From it emerged a sheathed, ridiculously long katana with a silver hilt and circular guard engraved with the phases of the moon, and dark blue hilt wrap. The sheath was also a shining dark blue, and two black sashes, one smaller sash forming a Y-shape with the other one, attached to it. Axel took the katana and pulled it out, the sheath mysteriously dissolving, and put on the sash. "Bowser, if you're screwing around this badly with the world, you can only be asking for my best Fan Service!"

Crossing his arms in front of his face, he brought his right arm back and threw the blade into the air, as it turned into silver energy. Then it boomeranged back at Axel from behind in a crescent moon-like projectile. Without turning, Axel extended his right arm outwards, right in the path of the projectile. It splashed across his arm, enveloping it in silver energy. Axel whirled his right arm in front of himself, causing the energy to spread to his outstretched left arm. Then the silver energy flashed, revealing silver plates of armor with a mysterious dark blue energy resembling water running between them.

Both of his arms now bore gauntlets comprised of hexagonal plates going back to his elbow, and up to his hand. "Rule over the midnight heavens!" Axel shouted as he spun around, and stood in a battle-ready pose with his right arm in front of his chest. Twin blades of silver energy in the shape of wings flew from the plates on his wrists, sending brilliant silver-blue light around. _"Shinsei Gingetsu _(Holy Silver Moon)!"

"Wait, what? That sword just turned into gauntlets! How does that even work?" Luigi demanded.

"I'll tell you another day!" Axel shouted, pushing off the ground with his feet, and both gauntlets flashed with one pulse of silver-blue, most of it gathering on the blades, light pulling into them in a radiance-like effect. "_Getsu Taiho_ (Moon Cannon)!" he shouted, throwing his hands out to the sides. The feathers of the blades went flying on curving patterns straight at the masts, shattering them. It seemed the masts were the weakness he had found.

Both the Mario Bros. were amazed by the dance of blue and silver that shredded the airships like it was nothing, but then Luigi turned and shouted. The other two followed his gaze to see a small amount of airships breaking off and heading for the castle, one among them bearing the most decorations. "It looks like Bowser's headed for Peach again!" Mario predicted.

"The disturbance in the weather and seismic energy seems to be greatest around the airship in the front," Axel added. "Listen! I will take care of everything here!" He threw his hand out, and great waves of water rose from the puddles about them and swept the airships away from the quickest route to the castle. "Hurry! That path won't last forever," Axel called, before turning back to strike at another airship.

The Mario Bros. didn't spare a second and ran down the street as fast as they could, jumping over the rubble and flames. However, by now many fissures had appeared from the earthquakes, and when they reached the castle gate, a deep chasm lay between them and the castle. In addition, the area the castle was on was somehow elevated higher than we were. "We have any Propeller Mushrooms left?" Mario asked Luigi.

"Let's see...Here's one," Luigi replied, holding up an orange mushroom with a yellow propeller on it and two yellow spots on either side. "Let's fly!" Luigi shouted, biting the Mushroom. A green jumpsuit appeared around him, and his shoes turned blue, while a green helmet appeared on his head with a yellow propeller attached on top of it, and a green L on either side. As Luigi jumped, the propeller began to spin, allowing him to fly up higher and higher. While he was ascending, Mario jumped and grabbed onto his feet, allowing them both to land on the other side of the chasm. "Great! We made it!" Luigi cheered, but Mario didn't hear him. He was already running.

* * *

Peach was surprised to see the airships, and by the time the airship convoy had neared her castle, she was fully aware of what was going on. Then one airship flew straight up to her balcony. And on it was none other than the Koopa King, Bowser! "Hello, Peach! Have I missed anything good in the Festival?" he sneered maliciously.

"Nothing you'd be interested in," Peach shot back, a tense expression on her face. "What do you want, Bowser?"

"What do _I_ want?" Bowser snorted. He roared with laughter. "Why, I have my _own_ party going on, Peach! And you're invited...not to mention your friend Bladesinger!" Peach and Hanna were surprised-mainly because Hanna had been far out of Bowser's sight. But they had no time to question, because Bowser suddenly threw out his hand-and they were both encased in octahedron-shaped crystalline barriers.

"What the-?" Peach had never seen anything like this. The barriers oddly flashed with multiple colors, and she could feel that there were multiple energy types in them. She held out her hand to touch the barrier-and was repulsed with a flash of multicolored lights.

Hanna, meanwhile, disappeared from sight as she tried to become a sound wave. She tried to pass through the barrier, but then Bowser pointed, and the barrier flashed again. It was now soundproofed-Hanna couldn't break out! Hanna reappeared and raised her blades from hidden pockets and slashed at the barrier-that didn't work either. "How did he do this?" Hanna gasped.

"Hey, Bowser!" The Koopa King glanced behind him to see the Mario Bros. fast approaching. "Stop right there!" Mario shouted, strapping on a suit decorated to look like a penguin. "You can't just take Peach like that!"

"Who says I can't?" Bowser snarled, turning around in full. "The powers I have in my hands at this moment come from the stars themselves! And pipsqueaks like you two won't be able to defeat me!" As soon as he finished this sentence, he threw out his hand, and an earthquake rocked underneath the Mario Bros. feet, sending them tumbling off balance. Then Bowser shot a blast of light, which the two barely managed to dodge. "And that's just the start!" he triumphantly roared.

Trying to make a counterattack, Luigi went up into the air with his Propeller suit, but with one gesture from Bowser, Luigi was suddenly frozen in ice! A moment later, Bowser punched the air, and Luigi went flying with a gust of wind, the ice breaking around him from the force. And to finish it up, Bowser pointed his hand skyward. Abolt of lightning crashed into Luigi, sending him crashing to the ground, stunned.

"Oh, yeah? Well, try this!" Mario shouted, firing a blast of ice at him. However, Bowser sidestepped the attack and opened his mouth, unleashing a stream of fire that set the castle grounds ablaze in a flash. Mario tried to put the fires out with ice blasts, but they weren't powerful enough. These flames were too many and too hot!

"Too hot for you, Mario? Have a drink!" Bowser roared, and a torrent of water fell, dowsing out the flames and washing the plumber towards one of the crevasses in the ground. Mario grabbed onto the ledge, but the rushing water was causing his grip to lessen more and more. And while the flames had been put out, there was a huge cloud of steam. He couldn't see even two feet ahead!

After firing ice blasts wildly, Mario finally struck something that would save him; he froze a rock a few inches from the crevasse over and grabbed onto it. It was lucky for Mario that rock was there; he wouldn't have seen it otherwise. "This is _madness_!" he groaned, hoping the rock wouldn't break. And of course, at that moment, it did! The plumber turned around and shot another ice blast, so a block of ice blocked the way and he wouldn't fall in. But Mario knew the block wouldn't hold on for too long...

At that moment, a gust of wind dispersed the steam, and something swooped down and grabbed Mario. The last of the water seeped into the crevasse and disappeared. Whoever was holding Mario dropped him off after the water disappeared. And now Aeron was standing on the air in front of Bowser's airship, an unknown golden double-edged sword with green edges and highlights in his hands. The guard was a hexagon with two spikes pointing down towards the hilt. "So you're Bowser, right? That's a scary power you've got there. And I'm here to stop you from abusing it."

"Abusing it? I'm just using it for the sake of a better world! You wouldn't understand!" Bowser shouted, raising his hand and blasting Aeron, encasing him in ice! "Ahahaha...huh?" Bowser was shocked when he realized that the ice was sparking, and then before his eyes, it exploded!

From beneath the ice, Aeron's sword crackled with lightning, and he leveled his sword at Bowser. "Mere ice cubes can't defeat me! _Ikazuchi Chikara_ (Thunder Force)" he shouted, firing a blast of white lightning. Bowser, however, thrust out his hand, and a giant piece of metal appeared, jabbed into the ground. The lightning jumped to it and went into the earth! But Aeron clearly wasn't finished yet. Another hand went up, and a gale roared past Bowser, sending him stumbling backward. Aeron threw out his sword again, and white fire roared across its length. "_Nagareboshi_ (Shooting Star)!" he shouted, hurling a white fireball which caused the ship to begin to burn under Bowser's feet.

Bowser began to extinguish the fire with water. However, Aeron was above him when he turned back, attempting to plunge his sword into Bowser's back...but his shell was just too hard. Laughing, Bowser threw his hand back, and a vine lassoed Aeron and pulled him to the ground, setting itself on fire immediately. "It's finally time to end this party!" Bowser declared firmly, and raised his hand, shooting lightning into the air.

A blue UFO revealed itself from behind the clouds immediately, and three lasers lanced down, cutting the castle out of the ground. It didn't help much that several fissures had been made from the earthquakes, which made less cutting necessary. And one of them was going straight for Aeron! "Watch out!" Mario shouted, tackling him out of the way and ripping the vine around him in the process.

Aeron stood up as the castle jerked violently, only to find the ground a foot away disappearing below them. "What?" He looked up to see the UFO creating blue light which was pulling the castle up. "We're being pulled into the air...that means I'll be able to take them down easil-"

"No, wait! If you try anything, you might hurt Peach and your girlfriend!" Mario reasoned. Meanwhile, Luigi pulled himself up onto the edge of the ditch where the moat once was. However, as they saw the Mushroom Kingdom disappear beneath our feet, they couldn't help but feel a strong sense of failure—Bowser had obtained some unknown power, and they had been unable to stop him.

Bowser gave them a triumphant sneer as his airship flew beside them. "Looks like you were too late, Mario! At this moment, we're going to my base with your precious Princess! Sorry you won't be there to see the show; I'll build a statue of you when I'm finished with my plan."

"You're not going to build him a statue," he suddenly heard an angry snarl. Turning around, he saw Axel, standing behind him on the same airship.

"No, I won't," Bowser admitted with a smirk. "But you won't set me to it." He ran towards Axel and brought up his fist...but Axel was already leaping over Bowser. One slash from his blades, and they cut through Bowser's shell! Bowser roared in pain and fell to one knee. Axel landed, spun around, and would've continued if there hadn't been interference from the UFO. A line of light suddenly shot into Axel's back as he charged towards Bowser, and he toppled in a few seconds.

Luigi zoomed over with the Propeller Suit, grabbed Axel, pulled him back to where the others were, and made a dash across the bridge towards the castle doors. However, Bowser saw this and gestured. Then, vines shattered the stairs and covered the door, while flames spread across them, forming a web which no one could pass. "So much for that idea," Aeron muttered. He raised his blade to try something, but then a cannonball from Bowser's ship flew, and Aeron turned around and blast it with lightning.

However, the cannonball only made things worse! A storm of cinders scattered over their heads, preventing them from moving...and it'd take too much time to get rid of them. "Crap, he thought of everything this time," Mario muttered. "What can we do?"

Axel, grimacing in pain from the wound from the UFO's attack, looked up at the door above them. "Wait. Do you guys hear something?" None of them knew what he was talking about, and shook their heads. "I think I hear someone screaming…on the other side of the door!" His blades came into action, and ignoring the inferno that raged around, he flew to the door and began to hack at the vines, but nothing happened. Then one more metal spear from Bowser sent Axel tumbling back down into the fire.

"Whoever's at the door," Aeron shouted as he stood up, "get to the balcony! I'll get you from there!" Avoiding the large rocks that were thrown at him, Aeron got to the balcony, and came back carrying…Terra?! "What were you still doing there?" Aeron couldn't help but ask as he descended.

"I was still drying off from falling into the water, but..." Terra looked down at the disappearing ground-by now, it was impossible to see anything clearly down there, save the mountains that rose up, and they still looked tiny now. "W-w-w-what's happening?"

"Bowser is lifting us into space," Aeron replied, looking up at the airships that circled us. Terra looked terrified at this, but Aeron didn't seem to notice much, while we stood in the only place that wasn't on fire. "We need to stop him, but I don't see how we can do it...the UFO which he's using to lift us is shielded. I don't think even I can destroy it."

"And have you forgotten about me?" Bowser shouted, thrusting his hand out. A giant gust of wind blew, and Terra almost fell backward into the flames-or she would have, if Aeron didn't pull her back to safety.

Terra straightened, but everyone noticed the despairing look on her face. "Peach and Bladesinger-san...Bowser imprisoned them. I couldn't do anything...to save them..."

Aeron sighed and patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright. I'll go in there and free them both right n-"

"You won't be coming to the party! Get lost!" Bowser roared, and sent a lightning bolt at Aeron, but the boy in green simply raised his hand, grabbed it and _absorbed it_, then raised his hand and dispelled the flames with a gust of wind, striking Bowser with them in the process.

"DISAPPEAR FOREVER!" the enraged Bowser roared, and suddenly his hands crackled with energy of multiple colors. Flames, water, wind, ice and rock shards, lightning, fragments of steel, leaves, light and shadow could be seen swirling among the maelstrom contained in his hands.

Before anyone could understand this, Aeron sprang into action, kicking up one of the larger pieces of the bridge. Then he let off one huge gust that rushed towards it, just as Bowser's blast struck the rock. The Mario Bros could only stare in dazed surprise, while Axel, for reasons no one was sure of, spun around and made as if to shield the fear-stricken Terra, just before the attack caused them all to go flying off the castle steps.

The blast had destroyed both Mario's Penguin Suit and Luigi's Propeller Suit, and Axel and Terra had been knocked unconscious by the force of the impact, scattering in another direction. Aeron looked by far the worst, incredibly burned and bloodied. But before he could feel concerned about Aeron, Mario saw something else: The shooting star which was streaking over the Mushroom Kingdom suddenly went green, then yellow, orange, red, and finally disappeared altogether. Knowing what it _truly_ was, Mario felt his blood go cold. "No..." he whispered. But he couldn't think about that anymore, for suddenly he realized how hard it was getting to breathe, and fainted...


	2. Enter the Galaxy

When Luigi finally woke up, he had no idea where he was anymore. It seemed he was sitting on a grassy field…no, more like a hill…and several stones stood around him like pillars. A starry sky hung above him, but the comet was gone, and the constellations didn't even look the same anymore. Rubbing his eyes, he saw Mario and the mysterious boy, Aeron Solo, lying in the grass, still asleep…or unconscious. But Axel Nightblazer and Terra Himene had disappeared…

Memories of what happened at the Star Festival flashed in his mind, and Luigi felt the sense of powerlessness from their defeat returning to him. But even worse, they were in space with no idea where they were. How could they hope to do anything else now?

Luigi snapped out of the stream of thoughts when he saw Aeron beginning to move again. "Hey, you alright?" Luigi asked, getting up and walking over to his side.

"Yeah…I'll be fine," Aeron replied, sitting up…only to wince, clutch his side, and fall back down, immediately debunking his own statement in the process. "That last attack was kind of hard on my body, though…"

"Have this!" Luigi rummaged in his pocket and took out a Dried Fruit. "It'll heal you for a bit! Not too helpful, but…"

"It'll do. Thanks," Aeron replied, taking it from Luigi and eating it. But at that moment, green waves washed over his body and cured all the burns that could have been seen a moment ago, leaving Aeron's flesh untouched. As Luigi stared at this phenomenon, Aeron smiled at his shocked face and explained, "I have an ability to regenerate. Your Dried Fruit boosted it, though."

"A regenerative ability…just who are you?" Luigi wondered, marveling at the abilities Aeron had shown.

"You are aware of the idea that there might be alternate dimensions, right?" Aeron asked. Luigi nodded eagerly, though he really did know that theory. "I am from what can be called the original dimension," Aeron explained. "The people there had immense power, and I…you can say I was among the strongest."

"Wow, really? We're really lucky to have you on our side!" Luigi commented, but then noticed Aeron didn't have such a convinced look. "Wait, what's with that face?"

"Well…it seems I've taken damage to my Chi Paths-those are the circuits in which our body's energy runs," Aeron sighed. "I won't be at full power until I can get them healed. My regeneration won't work on those, either-I would need someone who is proficient at healing spiritual wounds."

Mario began to wake up when Luigi remembered something else. "Well…Aeron, not to make you worry even more, but…Axel and Terra aren't here with us."

Aeron cocked his head and looked off into the stars. "Ah yes…but they're still alive, that's for sure."

"Wait, how did you know?!"

"That's another one of my powers. Axel and I are siblings-identical twins in fact. Siblings can sense the locations of each other, and that ability is even stronger if we are twins. Well…in my weakened state, you're aware I can't pinpoint his location, but I'm at least sure he's still alive."

Luigi stood up and helped Aeron to his feet. "Then the best thing we can do right now is try and find them, right?" he suggested.

"Luigi! Mario!" When the Mario Bros. heard their names, they looked around to see who spoke in that high pitched voice. Then they finally saw the speakers just above their heads. There were two star-shaped creatures hovering above the group; one had an apricot color, while the other possessed deep orange skin. They slowly descended to eye level with the Bros. "What happened to you guys? We saw you flying through space a few moments ago, so fast we couldn't even catch up…"

"Wait, wait, hold up! Where are we?" Mario and Luigi almost said this in perfect unison, waving their hands in the air somewhat exaggeratedly.

"What? You don't know? You're in the Gateway Galaxy! Well, I don't think we were on this planet last time you were here, but…"

Luigi and Mario didn't know how relieved they should have felt, knowing they were in somewhat safe territory. On the other hand, "safe territory" didn't really equate to "known territory", so they were still terribly lost. And on top of that, there was still one nagging question they had, which Mario promptly asked.

"One more question…what happened to the Comet Observatory? We saw it change colors just before we lost consciousness…change colors to its lower power levels!"

It was definitely a bad idea to bring up this subject, judging from the reactions of the Lumas, but they finally answered, "We'll let Mama explain. She's waiting for you guys. Come on, there are a few Launch Stars that'll get us back to the Gate! I think there was one…right…" The apricot Luma's voice trailed off when his arm pointed at an empty space with a crater just beneath it.

Aeron coughed loudly and looked away with embarrassment. "I think I may have ended up landing exactly there on my way down."

The silence that followed was even more awkward than the last one. Finally, Mario sighed, threw his hands up into the air, and walked off in another direction. "I guess we'll have to search for the Star Chips or something of that sort…"

"Star Chips, you say?" Aeron asked. "Like that thing?" He pointed at a bush, in which the others could see something sharp and orange sticking out, gleaming in the starlight.

Luigi walked over with hurried steps, his hopes picking up. Pulling it out of the bushes, he found it was an orange triangle with a sphere at one end. "This is it! But there are four more…let's spread out and find them, alright?"

In short time, the other four Star Chips were scavenged out and placed, along with the first one Aeron found, in a circle with the points that had the spheres on them pointing outward. Then with an orange flash of light, they were gone, replaced by an orange star with spheres on each of its tips and a smaller orange star cut out of it, with yet another star-shaped hole cut in that. "We did it! Now we can go on!" Mario cheered.

"Mario, Luigi, we'll be lending you our powers again for this!" the orange Luma declared, surging into Luigi's hat. Immediately, a new power surged into Luigi's limbs, and his fists shone with this brilliant energy that was so invigorating the green-clad plumber couldn't help but leap up and let out an excited whoop. At that moment, the new energy coursing through his body pulled him like a magnet into the now-revolving Launch Star, with the inside section pulling back just behind his feet. "Wait…uh, Aeron, how are you going to get around?"

Aeron didn't seem to be listening, though, but rather scrutinized Luigi carefully, his eyes gleaming with an odd green hue. Before Luigi could question this, they reverted back to their original color. "I think I have an idea. All it'll take is for me to replicate that energy the Lumas provide."

"You make it sound so easy…" Mario folded his arms in annoyance, seeming to take Aeron's words as a display of arrogance. Luigi sighed and decided not to question any further, then concentrated on the blue trail of light leading off into the distance. Spinning his arms around rapidly, the Launch Star followed his rotation, and the bottom section shoved upwards like a spring, hurling Luigi along the blue trail of light.

Soon, another planet began to emerge in the distance. Somersaulting through space just before making contact, Luigi's feet landed with force upon the dirt-covered surface of the planetoid. The impact shook his body, but he tried to ignore it as best as he could…and then one moment later, Aeron landed right next to him, dusting his hands off. "Told you I'd have it," he said proudly to Luigi, whose mouth was gaping wide open.

A moment later, Mario came crashing down on his face, plowing up tons of dirt. "AUGH ADSFJADTEWAHITAN DFASJOFDJSOFAOVN WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

The Apricot-colored Luma popped out of Mario's hat and dusted himself off. "You really need to work on your landings," he noted with amusement.

"It's not like that. I just got surprised that Aeron passed me so easily in midflight and lost my concentration," Mario protested, getting up on shaky feet. Aeron and Luigi couldn't help but laugh at his pathetic attempt to make an excuse. The main reason was because he still made it clear that Aeron was better than him at using Launch Stars, despite this being his first time doing so.

"Mama's this way; hurry!" the Apricot Luma told them as he flew across the planet's surface, forcing the others to pick up the pace.

And so they went, hopping between planets through the use of Launch Stars and their less-powerful variants, the Sling Stars, which merely resembled a small, hollow star with curves rather than lines. During this time, Mario and Luigi practiced their jumps and techniques that utilized the Luma's powers, re-familiarizing themselves with powers they had not used in a long time. Aeron, meanwhile, attempted to perform various techniques, but to his dismay they did not work, meaning he could only rely on his skill with the sword and his unusually sharp senses.

Finally, Mario strained his eyes to where they were heading next and gasped. "Hey! There it is!" he shouted, pointing at the planet which the trail of the Launch Star was headed towards.

There was yet another small planetoid with flowers and grass covering some parts of it, and plain dirt exposed on others. Two large craters were bored through the planet-one going through the planet itself, one halting in around the middle. Rocks stood like pillars at one point, and two small houses-one with a blue roof and one with a green roof-stood near a patch of tall grass. Opposite the rock pillars, there was a short castle-like structure made out of white and blue stone, five-pointed stars of the aforementioned colors decorating parts of it.

More Lumas of various colors swarmed the planet, and in the middle of a compass rose surrounded by a blue circle at the top of the castle stood an unusually tall lady in a beautiful yet simple turquoise dress. A wand with star at the tip was in her hand, and a silver crown with several jewels embedded in it rested upon her head. She had platinum-blond hair going down to about her waist behind her, as well as having one cyan eye covered by her bangs. Her skin was rather pale, and her lips possessed a natural frown. Yet when she saw the trio, her expression became one of relief. This was Rosalina, the lady who had helped the Mario Bros. the previous time they had been launched into space.

The trio didn't hesitate to go straight to her as soon as they landed. "I had a feeling we would see each other again," she said to Mario and Luigi.

"Good to see you again, Rosalina!" Mario took his hat off as a show of courtesy, as did Luigi. "Oh, and this guy…"

"Aeron Solo. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Aeron gave a short bow, stepping just in front of the Mario Bros.

Rosalina, however, widened her eyes when she looked at him. Next, she took his hand, and ignoring Aeron's rather baffled look, began to glow with a pale blue aura. Finally, when it faded, Rosalina continued to look at him with amazement. "This energy that flows through your veins…you were a resident of Dimension Zero, weren't you?"

Neither Mario nor Luigi knew what she was talking about at first but then Luigi remembered what Aeron said about alternate dimensions a few moments ago. "I see, Dimension Zero must be the original dimension…" he muttered to himself.

Aeron's eyes also widened slightly. "You actually knew…? How did you find that out?"

It seemed as though Rosalina's eyes gave off a mysterious feeling that she knew even more than she let on at this point. "My name is Rosalina. I watch over and protect the cosmos. I have met people like you before, Aeron Solo-Aethereans, Psions, Lycidians. Yet you are a rather unusual person…"

A bitter smile landed on Aeron's face. "That's a rather troubling story and I must leave it for another time," he said quickly, before dropping said smile. "In any case, while I hate to rush things, why were we called here?"

Rosalina bit her lip, but waved her wand, and a projection of light appeared in the sky, revealing a miniature version of her home, the Comet Observatory. There was no mistaking its identity with the six domes that rested upon each level and the bright sphere of light at the center. "About 36 hours ago," she began to recount, "the Observatory was passing over your planet as it does each century. However, we were surrounded by the forces of the King Koopa once again…" Numerous airships surrounded the Observatory at this point, blasting it with cannonballs. "Our barriers were able to repel most of the attack, but at that moment…"

Then, a new figure no one really recognized leapt off one of the airships and began to hurl black energy from his palms at the barriers, which flashed once, twice, and then shattered, allowing the Observatory to be crushed by the Koopa's forces. "Who…is that?" both Mario and Luigi asked in unison.

Rosalina shook her head in response. "He appears to have Shadow abilities. Why he is so powerful for his apparent age, I can't understand, though…"

The Shadow user, at this point, was blowing through walls and even knocking sections of the Observatory completely out of place, while other members of the Koopa Troop blasted the beacon, sending Stars flying into their hands. Rosalina and the Lumas were forced to escape through the Gate, as each barrier conjured by the Star Wand was obliterated by the shadow attacks with only a few hits, and the Shadow user was quick to strike again, without stopping. "Wow, you're right. That's about master rank shadow manipulation," Aeron whistled.

"As such," Rosalina finished with a downcast expression, "the Observatory is completely unable to be accessed at this time. It's taken so much damage that I doubt its life-support capabilities will work, among other things. And I cannot leave this place for fear that the Lumas will get hurt. Therefore…Mario, Luigi. Would you two help me once again in retrieving the Stars?"

Neither of the Mario Bros needed to think about the question for very long. Remembering Peach's capture and the fact that Bowser was running rampant without them to stop him, they nodded without delay. Then Aeron stepped up, and declared he would help for Hanna's sake, and they accepted him with no questions. "We're ready to go, Rosalina! It's pretty sudden, but where can we go right now?"

Rosalina waved her wand once again, and a Launch Star appeared before them. "It seems the closest Star to us is in a place called Waterfall Cave. I can only send you so far, but this should be enough to get within the area."

"That'll be alright. Come on, Luigi, let's go!" Mario ordered, jumping into the Launch Star and catapulting himself along with Luigi following shortly afterward, and Aeron bringing up the rear. "We'll definitely return with the Star in hand!" the red plumber promised over his shoulder as the Gate rapidly disappeared behind them.

Soon, they could see rocky moons ahead of them, and they managed to land somewhat safely after remembering their techniques from their long journey to the Gate. Without stopping, Mario and Luigi crouched, and then somersaulted high into the air before coming down…towards a different moon. These moons were so close together that they could pass between them quickly. Aeron was rather surprised by this, but adapted quickly and kicked off from the hard earth, flipping over in midair and landing flawlessly on the other moon.

Much to their dismay, several Octoombas-creatures resembling mushrooms that were blue with yellow spots and possessed glowing yellow eyes, puckered mouths, and an antenna on the top of their heads-were positioned on the next moon. The Octoombas spit rocks, but Aeron drew both his swords and split them in two, then leapt to the moon they were on and hacked them apart with a few slashes. "Wasn't that a bit over the top?" Luigi began to ask, but Aeron surprisingly had doubled his speed just like that, as if he was eager to destroy all the Octoombas.

"Um…whoa, that's not something I picked up about him in the past 24 hours," Mario muttered, doing his best to chase after the rapidly disappearing Aeron.

Before they knew it, Aeron had blazed through the ranks of the Octoombas all the way to the Launch Star, and Mario and Luigi arrived moments after he had finished. "Sorry, I got carried away," Aeron noted in a not-so-apologetic tone. However, neither of the plumbers made comments, instead choosing to carry on. They threw themselves into the Launch Star and fired at the next planet in a short amount of time.

The next location they landed upon was a planet with numerous holes in the surface, revealing a swirling, black sphere. "Oh, crap…it's a black hole," Mario muttered, remembering a few times where he had nearly fallen in, and even though he had 1-UP mushrooms to save him from the fall, it was a terrible experience where it felt like his body was being ripped apart. Oh wait, that's what black holes do.

"_That's _a black hole?!" Aeron stared at it with the utmost disbelief. "You shouldn't be able to see black holes…and a black hole can't be the core of a planet, either! Just what is-?"

"Anything you thought you knew about cosmic physics, we've seen something that defies it," Luigi dismissed with a handwave. "There's probably a Launch Star somewhere here, though. Let's go!" The Launch Star, surely enough, was trapped in a crystal which rested on the other side of the planet, and despite everything that raged around him in the form of Octoombas and the rocks they hurled, Aeron was able to reach the crystal and smash it, letting them leave the planet despite having been there for less than a minute.

Mario looked ahead and noticed that there was a large planet ahead with several tons of water pouring from a lake atop smooth, red-brown cliffs into a basin of water beneath, and several square rock platforms leading towards the waterfall but halting just before it. Jungles covered the cliffs, strangely giving it a green-blue glow. "Hey! There it is!" he shouted excitedly.

Mario's Luma appeared from beneath his hat and vigorously nodded. "That's it, alright! We just need to find the Star!"

Aeron and Luigi seemed somewhat more doubtful, though, and looked the planet from the high cliffs to the lake at the bottom. "This is…a lot of area to cover…" Aeron muttered in an unsettled tone.

As he continued to muse, the Mario Bros. ran across the platforms towards the waterfall. However, they found themselves stopping in the middle of the last platform. "Um…so what are we supposed to do here again?" Mario asked, scratching his head. The rocks suddenly looked very jagged on the lakeshore, and the water churned violently from the force of the waterfall. "Swim down there?"

Luigi shook his head. "Our bodies would be smashed apart by those waves." He slowly began to approach the waterfall, but suddenly came down on one knee with a yelp and fell on his face. "Geez! The pressure from this waterfall is so strong I can't even get near it!" While they pondered the question, Aeron came up from behind, and they quickly filled him in on the details. "Any ideas?" Luigi asked.

"…I have an idea," Aeron announced after a short moment of silence.

"Really?!"

"Yeah." The look on Aeron's face when he declared the next part was so deadpan no one knew how serious he was being: "Jumping straight through the waterfall."

Neither of the bros took this seriously at all, either. They merely stood with eyes twitching, staring straight at Aeron. "Are you…nuts?" they both asked in perfect unison.

Aeron, however, was backing up just before performing the exact motion. "Let me try it first…" No sooner had he said this than his feet kicked backward roughly, and he flew across the ground so fast that his legs could not be seen. Then, with one powerful kick off the ground that even sent several shards of rock flying and threw a gale about, he hurled himself at the deluge. At the last second, Aeron's swords were suddenly in his hands, and he spun around like a tornado in midair as though trying to carve through the water itself. The next moment, he had disappeared into the waterfall.

No one spoke for a long time, waiting to see the outcome of Aeron's seemingly reckless move. But then they finally heard Aeron shout "It's totally safe!...uh, for me anyway."

The last three words completely dashed the small hopes the Mario Bros. had just as they were pulling out their Propeller Mushrooms once again. "…that…doesn't mean it's safe, does it?" Mario asked just to confirm the worrisome premonition.

Luigi shrugged. "But we're nowhere near as athletic as Aeron, so I really can't say. Oh well, here goes…" Taking a bite of the Propeller Mushroom, he donned the Propeller Suit and began to back up for the best running start. Then he charged (and stumbled) towards the waterfall with a loud (totally lame) battle cry, and Luigi spun through the air wildly (flailed his arms in a disorganized mess) before flying through the water (with a gigantic splash).

Mario watched this with mixed feelings, not sure whether he should laugh, be worried, or panic. Then he finally heard Aeron's voice shout "He's safe…but he fainted from the terror." Consoled somewhat, Mario backed up as far as was practical, also putting on the Propeller suit, and ran at the cascade. His foot hit the edge of the platform and shoved off with all the force he could muster. The downward current of air exerted by the waterfall immediately greeted him, but he defied it by jetting upwards with the Propeller suit's power. It seemed Luma was actually making it work better than it ever had before.

Changing his course to a more horizontal one, he threw himself through the water, feeling it crash down with overwhelming force, but bravely pushed on, keeping his momentum as forward as possible while trying not to get pushed too far down. Finally, he found himself out of the deluge…but facing a rock wall. "Oh, gee…" Mario didn't have enough strength to keep going, though, and he only watched the wall come. Even Luma couldn't get him out of this now…

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his and pulled him up. It belonged to Aeron. "Glad you made it over," he congratulated as Mario got out of the Propeller suit which had practically been destroyed by the waterfall. "We can rest for a while now."

"How long is 'a while' exactly?" Mario asked, shakily sitting down.

"However long it'll be before you feel fine again," Aeron replied shortly.

"Sounds good," Mario nodded, though a few questions about Aeron were still troubling him. "Say, Aeron…who are you really?"

Aeron gave him a surprised look. "I thought I told you that I was from another dimension where the beings that exist there are 'perfect' in most ways," he noted. "Does that answer not satisfy you?"

"I know _that_ already. But you're not only really strong and coordinated…you know, you were acting really different when you started fighting. You were acting like you wanted to eradicate all enemies or something…"

Aeron sat in silence, with a look on his face as though even he didn't know the answer. "I guess I just really got into it…" he sighed. "After all, we don't know where Peach and Hanna are, or if Bowser will take good care of them…or do you know anything to the contrary about the second part?"

"Well, he's usually nice to Peach…okay, he locks her up, but she's usually perfectly fine otherwise," Mario replied. "I don't think you'd have to worry about that. Even so…"

"Yeah. Judging by how you reacted to what Bowser said, even you don't know what's going on entirely. That means nothing good." Aeron's fists were slightly starting to clench a little. "The only thing there is now as far as I'm concerned is to keep fighting. We're far away from anyone who can help us except Rosalina now, Mario…stopping Bowser pretty much is on our shoulders now. As for the others, they can't travel as far as through space. Perhaps knowing this is starting to affect me."

"You're saying you've never left a planet before?" That was a bit of a surprise to Mario.

"We're in another galaxy entirely. That itself should state something. I _have_ done space travel before, but this is on another level entirely. It feels stifling when you know you're all the way on the edge of the universe, where no one knows you're there…" Aeron's face was determined, almost to a scary extent. "Which is why I will definitely get Axel and Hanna back, defeat Bowser, and return to Earth alive."

"The way you say it makes it sound like your life depends on it…though I guess I can get what you're saying…" Mario muttered. "Being so far away from Earth actually doesn't feel all that great…there are a lot of things I'd miss. Like my house, and friends, and…"

"Exactly," Aeron nodded, before stretching a little and standing back up. "Well, if you're feeling like it now, we can go, Mario."

"Alright! Let's-a go!" Mario agreed, standing up. But then they both remembered Luigi, and the mood sputtered and died. "Um…what do we do with him? He's still unconscious," Mario inquired.

Aeron didn't seem to have any better ideas. "Just…uh…carry him until he wakes up," he muttered lamely, and began to walk again.

"Lame," Mario muttered before picking Luigi up and heading through the dim passageway after Aeron.

Unfortunately, as they went, they noticed Goombas scuttling about, muttering complaints of their ill success. "Wait-the Koopa Troop got here before we did?" Mario groaned.

Aeron drew both swords without contemplating at all and ran right at the Goombas. "Then we'll just have to power our way through!" he declared with an exaggeratedly bold expression on his face.

The twin swords held in Aeron's hands chopped through two Goombas with impressive 10-hit combos each. Aeron grinned in triumph…and then saw Mario jumping on the Goombas and defeating them in just one hit. As Aeron stared at this with an utterly stupefied look, Mario just sent a grin his way. "You don't have to be flashy, these guys are really weak," he called, before seeing another Goomba run towards Aeron from behind. "WAIT, AERON, BEHIND YOU-"

The Goomba rammed into Aeron from behind, sending him flying at least two meters. Mario winced as he watched Aeron go flying, but then Aeron suddenly got up with a murderous look and ran at the Goomba with arms outspread. They flew towards the shoulder of the opposite sword's arm, slicing the Goomba into 3 pieces. "YOU ALL ARE GOING TO DIE!" he roared, rampaging down that hall.

"…what's he doing?" Luma asked, completely dumbfounded by Aeron's sudden tantrum.

"Who knows?" an equally dumbfounded Mario retorted, running after Aeron. But before he could catch up, he saw a staircase leading downwards. "Hey, Aeron, does this look newly made, or…"

"It's been there for a while," Luma interrupted before Aeron could check. "We've been here plenty of times…but not to the lowest level; we didn't dare go that far."

Aeron gave him a smile while walking down the steps. "Well, then this time will be your first-oh, crap." Mario followed and was immediately enraged/terrified by what he saw. The next floor was filled with even more Goombas. Simply stomping their way through was practically impossible at this rate, Mario lamented. This would be truly inconvenient…wait, why was Aeron grabbing him by the hand?

"Hang on tight, everyone…Mario, you'd better hang tight to Luigi, too," Aeron urged. Before Mario could question it, Aeron's foot shoved against the ground and he went speeding past the Goombas long before they could react, with Mario rather high in the air, barely managing to hold on to his hand while screaming all the way. They went racing down corners at speeds so risky that Mario swore he would crash into the wall more than once, but Aeron made a hairpin turn just before disaster.

Of course, Aeron repeated this process ten times without stopping, and at the end of it all, Mario (and Luigi, who had woken up) decided that was one thing never to try again with Aeron. Even the Lumas were incredibly dizzy after that.

However, when they rounded the last corner, Mario felt the dizziness wash away when he saw the amazing gem-filled room. "Wow! Look at all those-" It was then that a particularly large, red gem caught his eye. "Ooh! That's a really great thing to find right there!"

"It looks a bit loose," Luma commented as he flew up to it. "Maybe you can pull it out!"

Mario grabbed the gem and began to pull. However, the gem didn't budge. "Argh! So much for it being loose…this thing won't move an inch!" he growled.

Aeron stood very far back, watching the whole spectacle. "This seems…familiar…" he muttered to himself. And whatever it reminded him of, it wasn't good.

"Let me try it, Mario!" Mario moved aside willingly for Luigi to attempt to pull the gem out of the wall. But Luigi couldn't move it at all, either. "Okay then, let's try pulling it at the same time!" Both of them grabbed the gem and began to pull, as hard as they could.

Hearing them rage over how hard it was to remove the gem finally made Aeron remember something…

* * *

_Aeron entered a cave which had walls studded with an abundance of crystals. "Wow! Will you look at that!" he marveled. "Soëlle, this is amazing, isn't it?"_

_An Eevee that was sitting on his head looked about the cavern with eyes reflecting the sparkling gems around them. "Wow! It's beautiful!" she cheered._

_Behind them followed a white dragon about the same size as Aeron, and behind him came a girl in blue clothes with red hair-Hanna Bladesinger, in her teens by now. All of them were enchanted by the crystalline walls…but then Aeron saw a particularly large crystal on the opposite side of the room. "Oh, sweet!" He ran straight up to it, ignoring everything else in the room. "I wonder if I could pull this out…it could really help with what I'm trying to make next!"_

"_Um…Aeron, is that really a good idea?" Hanna asked nervously as Aeron began to struggle with the gem, trying to pull it off the wall._

"_It'll…urgh…be fine…" Aeron strained his muscles all he could, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the gem off. Finally, his arms slackened, and he leaned against the gem for a rest…and pushed it into the wall. "Huh? What the-?"_

_Then Hanna heard a new sound. "Eh? Aeron…do you hear that? It sounds like rushing water."_

_Aeron heard it too at this point. "That's weird, I didn't hear it before this gem…sank…when I…pushed…" Aeron's words slowed as he realized just what leaning on the gem caused._

_A moment later, from the gaps between the crystals, water gushed out in such quantities that everyone found themselves getting swept away by a flood. There was much screaming and panic, and they were shoved through the cavern off through another passageway…_

* * *

Aeron had no idea why, but when he remembered this, he suddenly began to seriously dread that the exact same thing was happening through the mother of all coincidences. Right then, he heard Mario shout "ARGH! WHAT IS WITH THIS STUPID CRYSTAL!" The angry red-clothed plumber raised his fist…

"AH!" Aeron shouted, but it was too late. Mario's fist came down on the crystal, pushing it inwards.

"Wait, huh? How did that happen?" As the confused plumber looked the crystal up and down, he suddenly noticed that shards of rock on the ground were starting to shake, and even bounce several inches into the air. "What the-"

"Do you feel a draft?" Luigi asked, before the tremors got so bad that he was forced to one knee again. "WHOA! WHAT?!"

Aeron let out a sigh and facepalmed rather dramatically, knowing nothing could be done. "Oh god…I hate it when history repeats itself like this," he groaned.

Water burst from the wall right as he said this, jetting into the room by the tons. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" all of them screamed as they were swept away through a tunnel they hadn't noticed and tossed about in the churning water.

The water pushed them towards some stalactites, but Aeron's swords sliced through them before a fatal crash could occur. "How much worse could our day get?" Luigi wondered as he moved to avoid more rocks that had been washed up by the current.

"We're nearing the exit. Hopefully this will be the end of our worries," Aeron replied, looking on towards the light coming from the end of the tunnel. With one final push, the water shoved them back out into the familiar light of the distant sun. Everyone sighed in relief as the water fell away from them into space…and then Aeron realized something illogical. "Wait, how is it falling straight down and not adhering to the planet's surface?" he asked, pointing in the direction the water was falling.

Mario and Luigi looked down as well, and also realized the water was going in a nonsensical direction. Oh yes, and that it was starting to drag them down as well. "Why couldn't I write movie reviews?" Luigi groaned, just before they began to plunge through the cascade, screaming all the way.

Below them lay another small planet. It was mostly earth, but grass divided the ground into numerous sections which all bore a different shade of brown. And on top of the planet, right in the way of the cascade, was a very large, tan-colored egg with several rough, polygon-shaped spots of green and brown on it. "Wait, what is that?" Aeron asked, suddenly rather interested.

Mario and Luigi looked at each other and groaned. "At the speed we're going, we can't even avoid it," Mario sighed. "Oh well, make way for an angry baby…"

"Wait, you've seen this before?" Aeron asked, visibly less impressed in the egg.

"Yeah…the very first thing we saw the last time something like this happened was exactly that egg," Mario nodded. "The first thing that almost GOT US KILLED, anyway."

Aeron just gave him a stare. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, sounding even more worried.

"Nope. It's totally for real…oh geez, we're getting close. Prepare yourself, Aeron!" Luigi shouted.

At that moment, the water forced them to land upon the egg with so much force that they were sent flying off as soon as they landed. "Ow…that thing is hard…" Aeron muttered, rubbing his legs. "Or…" His expression suddenly became cold and hard when he turned around. "_Was_."

Following his gaze, Mario and Luigi saw the egg had been cracked by the force of their fall. A long, green tail with a brown ball attached to it burst from the egg and smacked the ground, making them jump from the force. "Here we go again…" Mario muttered as it began to crawl around aimlessly under what was left of the shell. Then it began to lumber towards them, unable to see. "Okay, Aeron, to defeat this thing we need to go up to its tail and-" Mario began.

Except at that moment Aeron was doing a move that was so reckless it was totally out of character for him. He went straight up to the tail and examined the brown ball for a few moments before kicking it hard. It went flying out into space, the green tail stretching out like rubber. Aeron looked unusually amused by this, but was less thrilled when the tail began to revert to its normal length, pulling the ball at a scary pace towards his face. "Oh my go-OWWWWW!" he shouted as it smashed into his chest. But instead of falling on his back, somehow he ended up getting caught on it and flying back at the egg, shattering it entirely.

Finally, its form could be seen. It looked like a giant Piranha Plant/dinosaur crossover, possessing a green body and two green leaves with orange edges that looked like the arms of a T-Rex, and its head was purple with white spots. Yellow petals were attached to its head like some kind of twisted baby headdress. This was the first boss the Mario Bros. had fought the last time they had set out to obtain the Power Stars for the Comet Observatory: Dino Piranha.

Mario and Luigi found a nostalgic feeling return to them-a mix of fear and determination, which only comes when something important is hanging in the outcome of a fight. However, this time Aeron was by their side (albeit in a very big predicament) and they were together. Then they remembered the Lumas were in on this fight as well, which gave them just a bit more solace. As Dino Piranha roared at them, they in turn moved into a battle-ready position.

* * *

**Boss: Dino Piranha**

"HEY! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Aeron shouted as Dino Piranha stalked towards them with earth-shaking steps. Mario and Luigi split and ran in two different directions. The plant-dinosaur looked between them as if trying to figure out which one to chase first, then decided to follow Luigi and stomped off in that direction, kicking up dust and the remains of its shell.

"Don't panic, Aeron! Keep calm and strike the tail hard enough to send it flying again!" Luigi tried to shout over as he reversed as fast he could, staying just a few steps ahead of Dino Piranha's gnashing teeth and swinging arms. "You were able to hit it hard enough earlier, so you should be fine!"

"AND HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO THAT WHEN I'M FREAKING HANGING ONTO SAID TAIL IN A SITUATION WHERE IF I LET GO I'LL GET FLATTENED BY IT?!"

"Uh…" Luigi really had no idea what to say, so he just sharply moved to the left to try and outmaneuver Dino Piranha again. Dino Piranha walked right into his trap by lunging and stumbling when he only hit empty air.

This gave Mario enough time to run to the tail. "Aeron, I'm really sorry for doing this," he sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Aeron then saw Mario take the pose for a spin attack. "Wait, no, no, no, noAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The tail went flying off into space again, stretched to its maximum possible length, and jetted straight back, slamming Dino Pirahna (and Aeron, for obvious reasons) in the back of the head. Dino Piranha's head was slammed into the ground from the impact, and several petals went flying off his head.

"Yes! I hit him!" Mario cheered, but then he saw Aeron falling to the ground. Who, by the way, looked just about as flat as cardboard right now. "Uh…Aeron, you okay?"

"…I am not trusting…your plans ever again…"Aeron groaned, slowly reverting to normal thickness. Suddenly, he heard Dino Piranha roaring and running in Mario's direction. And he just happened to be between them. With another totally lame scream of terror, he rolled out of the way just as Dino Piranha's feet stomped past.

Now it was Mario's turn to run while Luigi ran after Dino Piranha's tail. It dragged along the ground, dust flying up about it. Mario gave one glance back just to see how close it was, and then bolted to the right, hoping Dino Piranha would make the same clumsy maneuver. However, the plant dinosaur simply swerved right at Mario, forcing him to change his trajectory a second time. Once again, Dino Pirahna turned around again, making one quick dive for Mario. Luigi, thankfully, made a similar dive and smashed the tail, sending it flying into space and stopping Dino Piranha in its tracks.

"Good! Now he'll get hit aga-" But to Luigi and Mario's shock, the plant dinosaur simply leaned his head, letting the tail fly past him and into Mario. "Oh my god! He never did that last time!" Luigi shouted, oblivious to the fact that Mario was rocketed about 10 meters into the air for a few seconds. "Wait, I mean…OH MY GOD MARIO!"

"AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO SCREAM MY NAME FIRST?!" Mario hollered as he fell back towards the open mouth of Dino Piranha, whose teeth gleamed wickedly with triumph. "Stupid thing…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Fire Flower, activated it and began to hurl fireballs into the plant dinosaur's open mouth. "Hah! Take that, sucker!" Mario roared triumphantly as Dino Piranha screamed and toppled, allowing Mario to stomp on his head rather than meet the sharp teeth. Just as the monster began to raise his head, Luigi spun against the tail, slamming it right into the head this time.

However, Dino Piranha stood up, and the flames extinguished mysteriously. Four ground-shaking stomps halted Mario's gloating, and then the loudest roar of the meanest baby ever sent the red plumber flying. Then Dino Piranha resumed his rampage, this time smashing Mario hard and almost making the bite.

Mario pulled out a green mushroom with white spots and wolfed it down as quickly as possible. Then he disappeared in a flash of green light just before Dino Piranha's open mouth could clamp shut on him. Moments later, Mario reappeared a few feet away. "Good god, saved by the 1-Ups," he sighed…before realizing that Dino Piranha immediately resumed chasing him anyway. "NOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!" he screamed, running for his life.

As Mario continued to run, Luigi tried to dash for the tail before Dino Piranha could see him. However, Dino Piranha did notice him and stomped the ground, knocking Luigi off-balance before attempting to crush him under its feet. Rolling to the side just in time, Luigi ran for his life once again. He looked back to see if Mario was making progress on the tail...and to his surprise, he couldn't see the end of the tail.

The gnashing of Dino Piranha's teeth reminded Luigi that he had to keep moving as fast as possible, and he sped up. But up ahead, he saw Aeron standing still…and holding the tail?! Before Luigi could question what was going on, Aeron pointed past the tail, indicating for Luigi to keep running. Dino Piranha began to stomp towards Aeron, but Luigi's Luma popped out and threw a Star bit, causing the plant dinosaur to turn back and resume the chase.

The process repeated once…twice…three times…and then Dino Piranha suddenly found he couldn't move all of a sudden. He flailed his arms and tried to gobble up the Mario Bros, but it was to no avail. "The trap has been set," Aeron muttered with a triumphant look, and he released the tail, kicking it as hard as he could. It spiraled about the planet multiple times before coming back to smash Dino Piranha's head and cause him to crash into the ground, all the petals on his head flying away in the impact. With one scream of agony, his mouth finally closed on his tongue…and he exploded.

Then, from out of the dust came a gold light, revealing a golden Star! "Yes! We did it!" Mario cheered, throwing a fist into the air. "That was great!"

"Says you…still, it was a nice challenge," Aeron commented, stretching his arms high over his head. "Let's get this thing back…hey, you know, we might actually be able to do this."

Mario reached for the Star, and it spun around him several times before landing in his hand, and he held it up proudly. "WE GOT A STAR!" he declared triumphantly.

**Power Stars: 1**

Then the Star began to pull them along with its golden light, and they went shooting back into space the way they came. "Hey, you feel like doing another one?" Mario asked, almost eager to keep going despite how tiring it had been.

"I'm all for it," Aeron replied, and despite the fact that they were facing a galaxy-sized problem, their eyes glowed brightly with the utmost enthusiasm.

* * *

**Okay, this just might have been the heaviest revamping of a fanfic I've ever done. GOD WHAT THE HECK IS WITH ME AND MY REWRITE SYNDROME.**

**The way the original draft of **_**A Tale of Shining Stars**_** was going really got on my nerves, and I gave up interest in it for a while in favor of my other fanfics****. Then I read **_**Sword Art Online**_**, and got back into Mario games through **_**Super Mario 3D World.**_** And just like that, I suddenly found new inspiration for this story. (Yes, I am now a _Sword Art Online_ fan. Shoot me if you want.)**

**I chose to reboot it partially because I realized I SUCK AT FIRST PERSON STUFF, and partially because I poorly handled the plot. And also partially because there were some changes I wanted to put in to make it more appealing overall.**

**The plot now has been altered to act as though **_**Super Mario Galaxy 2**_** did not happen because of the huge continuity gap it creates between itself and the original. And besides, every moment where **_**Super Mario Galaxy **_**gave off the impression of being dark and mysterious, **_**Galaxy 2**_** gave off a colorful and cheery feel. Not criticizing it, but the feel of the original **_**Mario Galaxy **_**suits my purpose better—contrary to what I wrote before, this story ****isn't supposed to be that lighthearted.**

**By the way, all the characters that had appeared already in the original draft from my old account will be retained, but their origins (mainly Shade's), designs (mainly Shade's), and names (not mainly Shade's) might change.**

**It pains me that (in my opinion) 2+ years' worth of writing has pretty much been trashed, but then, if it weren't for those two years, I wouldn't be able to write as I do now. It seems I've finally found my answer for my writing style. Stay tuned, everyone, and I will not disappoint any of you.**


End file.
